Tom Blomqvist and BMW Team RBM had a successful weekend at the Norisring, Germany for the 7th and 8th rounds of the 2016 DTM season. Tom made it onto the podium in front of a total of 123,500 spectators after his strong performance secured second place in Sunday's race.
Saturday found Blomqvist finish P8 in FP1, dropping to P19 in FP2. Qualifying proved problematic as a mere 0.430 separated the busy field, causing it to be very difficult to gain places, with similar issues in the main race, which saw him finish in 16th place. Tom commented: “The weather was good, the atmosphere was sensational – and my start was also okay. But then I got wedged in on the first turn and lost a few places. And then when you have a convoy of cars in front of you, it is very difficult to overtake here at the Norisring. It was also a difficult race overall for me.”
Sunday's racing brought much better fortune as Blomqvist's dramatically improved pace saw him with the fastest middle sector in qualifying, coming in second. However, Ekström's penalty from Saturday's race took Tom and the Ice Watch BMW M4 DTM to pole position in the main race for the first time in his DTM career. Managing to keep ahead of the pack throughout, he crossed the chequered flag in second place.
Reflecting on the weekend, Tom commented: “All in all, I am very happy with the result. I made it onto the podium and scored 18 valuable points. We had not really reckoned on that going into the weekend. We even came very close to winning, but unfortunately I lost time towards the end of my first stint and in the pit stop. On the whole, however, my team did an incredibly good job. I would like to thank them all.”
The weekend's success leaves Blomqvist in 8th place for the drivers' championship with 52 points.
Tom's next DTM race will be in Zandvoort, the Netherlands from 15th -17th July.
In association with MBP
